NDP star candidate recruitment for 2015

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Tue, 2011-05-10 07:47

JeffWells

Alright. Idle speculation.

Many prospective star candidates, whose natural home is the NDP, have been deterred from running in the past because of the unlikelihood of forming government. That obstacle has now been removed.

So who should the party be wooing now, to be part of a compelling team ready to take power in four years?

I'll start:

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond - Nanaimo-Alberni?

Naomi Klein ([url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article2459948.ece]she has mused aloud about it[/url]) - Toronto Centre?

Tue, 2011-05-10 09:51

Stockholm

WE may not have to wait until 2015 - I expect a byelection in Toronto Centre in the next year or two - once rae realizes he won't be liberal leader he will snapp up the first well paying private sector job that comes his way.

Tue, 2011-05-10 10:09

Caissa

The election is one week olda and the new House of Commons is yet to meet. When will we be taking a hiatus from 2015 speculation?

Tue, 2011-05-10 10:39

JeffWells

Well, as Stockholm points out, chances to add to the front bench of a government-in-waiting are almost certain to arise before the next general election. And given the present opportunities and challenges before the NDP, I hope the party's braintrust is speculating, compiling lists and making calls right now.

Tue, 2011-05-10 10:46

vermonster

Remembering that redistribution will probably be adding 30 seats in Ontario and the West, and that riding lines in other parts of the country may change significantly, it isn't necessarily easy to place specific candidates in specific ridings, but here are a few names I've been pondering. (Although many of them have been involved in the NDP already, but have shied away from running federally.)

Fonse Faour in Newfoundland (Humber - St Barbe - Baie Verte). He's currently serving on the provincial Supreme Court, but will be 64 in 2015, so maybe he could be persuaded to retire from the bench and come back to federal politics.

Cle Newhook in Avalon.

Herb Dickieson in Egmont, PEI. (He was an impressive provincial NDP leader, and the only NDP MLA in PEI history. He's a doctor, in his mid-50s, and has remained very involved in civic affairs.)

Raimi Osseni - St Boniface, Manitoba

Sheila McLeod Arnopoulos - Westmount, Papineau or Ahunstic

Tue, 2011-05-10 10:49

gyor

I'd suggest David Suzuki. The obvious portolio would be the enivorment, but if we put him as Indusrty minister it would send as strong message about greening the economy.

Tue, 2011-05-10 10:59

JeffWells

I think Suzuki will be 79 in 2015, so I'd suggest instead his daughter, Severn Cullis-Suzuki.

Tue, 2011-05-10 11:04

Malcolm

Some people who can innoculate the party against the charge of fiscal / economic incompetence:

Ex MB Premier Gary Doer (once he's done his term in Washington)
Other Ex MB Ministers
Ex SK Ministers Pat Atkinson, Andrew Thomson
Ex SNDP leadership candidate Ryan Meili

That would probably make the list relatively older, but given the party's current youth movement, we have the opposite demographic issue to most parties.

Tue, 2011-05-10 11:21

JeffWells

I believe 2011 is expected to be Howard Hampton's final provincal election, so perhaps the next federal candidate for Kenora.

Tue, 2011-05-10 12:24

#10

edmundoconnor

A bit off-topic: Given the redistribution, does that mean the southern end of Trinity-Spadina gets carved off into a new riding (Toronto Exhibition, perhaps)? I hear that Chow would likely run in the north end.

I don't know exactly where they'd run, but David Miller and Adam Giambrone could be tempted back (I know Miller has ruled himself out, and Giambrone is possibly going to Brussels, but recent history has shown me never to say never). By 2015, people could well be sick of Ford, and likely to view the Miller era in a fairer light. Five years working on transit overseas could be enough to rehabilitate Adam, also.

Tue, 2011-05-10 13:10

#11

bagkitty

I am quite willing to do without putting extraordinary efforts into "star" candidates... I find they are symptomatic of the LPC game and I am not sure the NDP should be playing it. Personally, I would much prefer to work and vote for a candidate who I knew had roots in the riding/community they were seeking to represent - and I am much less impressed with "credentials" and "profile" than I am with a verifiable record of involvement in the riding. A viable NDP government will depend as much on how well the individual MPs perform the day-to-day constituency work as it will on having MSM "name recognition" of its candidates.

Rather than raiding the legal profession, or academia, or the media for "names", how about turning our attention to that resource we already have in abundance - a group that I often refer to teasingly as the "NDP Ladies" -- the ones who often serve on riding association executives, who act as offical agents and financial officers during the campaigns, who have address books filled with the names and numbers of campaign workers, who know (and often serve on) their local community associations. Having spent [s]way too much[/s] a good deal of time involved in both provincial and federal riding associations, I am always struck on how much the party depends on the work and expertise of these women (hence my teasing reference) who keep the riding associations alive. It is not always obvious -- when the party(ies) meet in conference, it is usually the policy wonks [disproportionately male] who are the face of the party, but, in my experience at least, when it comes to the work that keeps the party going, the face of the party is decidely female. Rather than looking outside of the party to find candidates whose membership cards are going to be two or three months old come election day, how about we focus on the "NDP Ladies" -- you know, the ones who, outside of time spent in the various legislatures themselves, have more experience with political life than anyone else. Elect them in large numbers and we will see a very, very different House of Commons.

Tue, 2011-05-10 13:30

#12

Stockholm

bagkitty wrote:

I am quite willing to do without putting extraordinary efforts into "star" candidates... I find they are symptomatic of the LPC game and I am not sure the NDP should be playing it.

I see your point, but the fact is that the NDP is now the official opposition and will have to present itself over the next four years and in the 2015 election campaign as a viable "government in waiting" - that will entail running some new candidates who are highly qualified who would be universally recognized as plausible senior cabinet ministers etc....

Tue, 2011-05-10 13:45

#13

Policywonk

Stockholm wrote:

bagkitty wrote:

I am quite willing to do without putting extraordinary efforts into "star" candidates... I find they are symptomatic of the LPC game and I am not sure the NDP should be playing it.

I see your point, but the fact is that the NDP is now the official opposition and will have to present itself over the next four years and in the 2015 election campaign as a viable "government in waiting" - that will entail running some new candidates who are highly qualified who would be universally recognized as plausible senior cabinet ministers etc....

That's assuming there aren't any of the current caucus that wouldn't be considered that now, and/or won't be at the time of the next election. And of course how many of the current government senior ministers or prospective ministers could be considered highly qualified? On the other hand, we will have to overcome MSM perception.

Tue, 2011-05-10 14:10

#14

Stockholm

There are LOTS of people in the current caucus who would make fine cabinet ministers - but in every election a party wants to show growth and show that it has succeeded in attracting more highly respected people who are experts in their fields as candidates.

In 2015 (bearing in mind that boundaries will change), there will be a several "flagship ridings" for the NDP like Vancouver Centre, Toronto Centre, Westmount-Ville Marie, Ottawa-Vanier etc... that would be obvious places to try to run some high profile highly respected people.

Tue, 2011-05-10 15:20

#15

Life, the unive...

Seems to me the place the Conservative won government was in southern Ontario- so that's where is needs to be taken away- particularly in southwestern Ontario. The rural/small town platform was a joke. I watched candidates in three ridings and in the Rural Voice (an infuential farm/local food magazine) try to put a brave face on it, but it was so squewed western and urban you could tell that they were taking their lead from another candidate rather than the platform which was sketchy at best. With all the new found resoucres the NDP would be well advised to hire someone from this region to start the work of developing a real platform that actually speaks to our reality, not what a bunch of urban people think would be cool for rural folks to care about.

So to go back to the thread topic - the NDP needs to start recruiting candidates who actually understand rural/small town issues and support them more.

Tue, 2011-05-10 17:03

#16

Stockholm

agreed - one nice thing about Quebec is that so many NDPers were elected in totally rural areas and have backgrounds in agriculture - this will hopefully give the party some new perspective as well.

Tue, 2011-05-10 17:10

#17

Ciabatta2

Life, the universe, everything wrote:

I watched candidates in three ridings and in the Rural Voice (an infuential farm/local food magazine) try to put a brave face on it, but it was so squewed western and urban you could tell that they were taking their lead from another candidate rather than the platform which was sketchy at best.

The last issue of the Rural Voice had the candidate q&a article - totally agree with you, it was apparent from many of their answers that the responses were stock answers that didn't really answer the question. I thought Robertson's were pretty decent though...

Tue, 2011-05-10 17:53

#18

Unionist

What we need is credibility with the billionaires - then the campaign can pretty much run on autopilot.

How about [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Summerville]Paul Summerville[/url], for example?

Tue, 2011-05-10 18:41

#19

Life, the unive...

Ciabatta2 wrote:

Life, the universe, everything wrote:

I watched candidates in three ridings and in the Rural Voice (an infuential farm/local food magazine) try to put a brave face on it, but it was so squewed western and urban you could tell that they were taking their lead from another candidate rather than the platform which was sketchy at best.

The last issue of the Rural Voice had the candidate q&a article - totally agree with you, it was apparent from many of their answers that the responses were stock answers that didn't really answer the question. I thought Robertson's were pretty decent though...

My guess would be he wrote the answers, shared them and then others copied, but I could be wrong. That is the exact kind of person the NDP should hire. Good writer, terrific communicator and knows the issues inside and out. If the NDP is going to be government they need to consolidate the wins from this election and then go out and take on the Conservatives on their turf. That likely means Saskatchewan, Manitoba and seat rich southern Ontario. Those are all different in their own ways, but I had to laugh at the NDPs focus on the Canadian Wheat Board and train cars (which is an important issue in the west don't get me wrong) but for every province east of the Manitoba border they are pretty much non-issues.

Tue, 2011-05-10 18:54

#20

adma

Also consider the hitherto Liberal-affiliated--I offered the possibility of Shelley Carroll in Don Valley East...

Tue, 2011-05-10 19:01

#21

edmundoconnor

In that spirit, bagkitty, I would happily nominate Eileen Markwick, the powerhouse and President of the Etobicoke Centre riding association.

Tue, 2011-05-10 19:02

#22

Malcolm

We need a mix of "stars" and (what would the not stars be?) "planets."

Tue, 2011-05-10 19:06

#23

edmundoconnor

Plenty of black holes on the Tory front bench.

Tue, 2011-05-10 19:34

#24

nicky

How about James Lockyer in Etobicoke Lakeshore where he now lives. He ran in St Pauls years ago and has been a party member for years

Tue, 2011-05-10 19:46

#25

David Young

Since she's well known as an NDP supporter, why not a 'Draft Sarah Polley' movement?

I'm not exactly sure where Sarah and her husband live in B.C., but what an addition to a potenial NDP government she would make!

Tue, 2011-05-10 19:58

#26

vermonster

David Young wrote:

Since she's well known as an NDP supporter, why not a 'Draft Sarah Polley' movement?

I'm not exactly sure where Sarah and her husband live in B.C., but what an addition to a potenial NDP government she would make!

Now that would be a star candidate in the truest sense of the word.

I've always thought of her a being Toronto based, not BC. Has she moved there recently? (And I know she was divorced. Has she remarried recently? I really need to keep up better on my celebrity gossip...)

Tue, 2011-05-10 20:11

#27

David Young

I stand corrected!

I didn't know that Sarah's marriage had ended in divorce, but I do believe she has a B.C. residence.

Can any of the nice, knowledgable people here at Rabble.ca help me discern her location?

Tue, 2011-05-10 20:53

#28

Policywonk

Malcolm wrote:

We need a mix of "stars" and (what would the not stars be?) "planets."

Planets (at least the classical ones) used to be known as "wandering stars". Perhaps those would be the young ones who hadn't settled down yet.

Tue, 2011-05-10 21:02

#29

bagkitty

Does that mean we call the ones who drift in unexpectedly and then disappear not to be seen again in our lifetimes should be called comets (hairy/bearded stars)?

In the meantime, it is hard to study astronomy with the harsh glow of the city lights getting in the way, I'm sticking with the recommendation I made in post #10.

Tue, 2011-05-10 21:32

#30

David Young

bagkitty wrote:

In the meantime, it is hard to study astronomy with the harsh glow of the city lights getting in the way, I'm sticking with the recommendation I made in post #10.

I agree with bagkitty 100% when it comes to encouraging female candidates.

Here in South Shore-St. Margaret's, it looks like Gordon Earle will not stand again as candidate (he's 68, and wants to spend more time with his grandkids!), and we've never had a female New Democrat candidate in this riding's history (then again, no Liberal or Conservative candidates have been female either).

I recruited a female candidate for the provincial riding of Queens, who became the first New Democrat elected there in 2006.

I'm determined to seek out a quality female candidate for the NDP here in 2015.

Given the NDP's third-straight second-place finish in 2011, and their highest-ever level of support, I don't think it will be too hard.

Tue, 2011-05-10 21:55

#31

adma

Would Stephen Page be forgiven? (Hmm, him in one of the Scarborough ridings.)

It might also be worth seeking out some former Rae-government MPPs who've "survived" politically--one case I'm thinking of is Randy Hope, currently mayor of Chatham-Kent...

Wed, 2011-05-11 00:42

#32

RevolutionPlease RevolutionPlease's picture

I tihnk the more women candidates is great as that is where they get a lot of their vote.

Wed, 2011-05-11 09:09

#33

remind

link does not work caissa

Wed, 2011-05-11 09:11

#34

Uncle John

I agree that female candidates should be given preference until their numbers in the various political bodies are up to a more equitable level.

Wed, 2011-05-11 09:23

#35

JeffWells

New Brunswick is ripe for a breakthrough. Elizabeth Weir?

Wed, 2011-05-11 09:50

#36

Caissa

Geez, why don't we recruit W. Brett Wilson to run in Sakatchewa

http://www.wbrettwilson.ca/

Wed, 2011-05-11 09:52

#37

Caissa

Last I heard Elizabeth was very pleased to be out of politics. I think Rob Moir is a strong candidate who will run in Saint John again in the next election.

Wed, 2011-05-11 18:23

#38

David Young

I really hope that Shawna Gagne, who came such a strong third in Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe decides to re-offer next time. That was an even closer race than in Saint John.

Wed, 2011-05-11 19:08

#39

Stockholm

She came closer to winning but she got fewer votes. I know nohting about Shawna Gagne but I wonder is she actually a better candidate than the other NB candidates or did she just come close to winning because it was such an even three way split?

Wed, 2011-05-11 19:28

#40

Anonymouse

Luba Goy, Craig Lauzon, and Lorne Cardinal (aka the NDP comedy crew)

Wed, 2011-05-11 20:20

#41

bagkitty

Anonymouse... I can picture myself voting for Lorne Cardinal, the other two, not so much. (Actually, if Lorne Cardinal was running, I might even be willing to do a little ballot box stuffing on his behalf).

Wed, 2011-05-11 20:34

#42

vermonster

bagkitty wrote:

Anonymouse... I can picture myself voting for Lorne Cardinal, the other two, not so much. (Actually, if Lorne Cardinal was running, I might even be willing to do a little ballot box stuffing on his behalf).

I assume you're aware that his brother Lewis was the NDP candidate for Edmonton Centre this year and ran a strong second - I'd be thrilled with either (or both) of the Cardinal brothers in Parliament.

Wed, 2011-05-11 22:05

#43

adma

Stockholm wrote:

She came closer to winning but she got fewer votes. I know nohting about Shawna Gagne but I wonder is she actually a better candidate than the other NB candidates or did she just come close to winning because it was such an even three way split?

This may be a chicken-egg answer, but she might have gotten more votes if there were more "buzz" about her--you have to remember that even in Babble, all the NB "next pickup" buzz was about Rob Moir and nobody was paying much heed to goings-on in Moncton.

In fact, I'd consider Moncton generally to be a historically neglected opportunity for the NDP--they might have done better here in the Alexa era if it weren't for the Liberals' Claudette Bradshaw being such a leftish powerhouse already (and if the Grits were to disintegrate, Bradshaw would definitely make a good fit into the NDP)

Thu, 2011-05-12 04:44

#44

bagkitty

vermonster wrote:

bagkitty wrote:

Anonymouse... I can picture myself voting for Lorne Cardinal, the other two, not so much. (Actually, if Lorne Cardinal was running, I might even be willing to do a little ballot box stuffing on his behalf).

I assume you're aware that his brother Lewis was the NDP candidate for Edmonton Centre this year and ran a strong second - I'd be thrilled with either (or both) of the Cardinal brothers in Parliament.

I wasn't aware of any family connection -- it is not a particlarly "singular" surname. Given the lack of coverage that most candidates (apart from the leaders) received this time arouund, I have had no opportunity to form an opinion on how he might perform on, say, Power and Politics (do I have to add "With Evan Solomon"?) -- on the other hand I have formed a very definite opinion on how Lorne Cardinal would likely perform... and I don't think the Evan Solomons (or Rex Murphys, or Peter Mansbridges) of our little Canadian media establishment would have the wit, humour or intelligence to keep up with him.

Thu, 2011-05-12 08:14

#45

JeffWells

[url=http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/personality/matt_galloway]Matt Galloway[/url] would make an excellent candidate for Toronto and a superior MP.

Thu, 2011-05-12 14:28

#46

St. Paul's Prog...

I agree Galloway would be good. It says he lives in the west end though - which the NDP already holds. Maybe Etobicoke-Lakeshore?

Another suggestion is Stephen Lewis. He is already in his 70s but he seems quite vigorous and I think he may be interested in playing a role in an NDP government. He could run maybe in St. Paul's (if Carolyn Bennett doesn't defect to the NDP), Toronto Centre or maybe Scarborough-Guildwood.

Fri, 2011-05-13 02:14

#47

ottawaobserver

Well, I hope Michael Byers comes back to run in Vancouver Centre next time. We also have some municipal folks in Montreal with strong enough experience to be front-bench contenders, who could run in Westmount VM - Julien Feldman on the school board is one example. I believe Susan Wallace wants to run again in Toronto Centre. Meena Wong could actually make Vancouver South viable for us on a second try, with the Liberals out of the way. And I sincerely hope Jagmeet Singh runs again in Bramalea-Gore-Malton.

We should also be targetting ridings like Scarborough Centre, London North Centre, and Winnipeg South Centre, for example, along with Halifax West, Scarborough-Guildwood and Ottawa-Vanier. And then there are ridings like Ahuntsic, Bourassa and Papineau.

There's really a lot of scope for growth when you think about it, and I'd be interested in hearing who some of the local candidates are who could win those ridings.

Fri, 2011-05-13 02:15

#48

ottawaobserver

Oh, and I love the idea of Mary-Ellen Turpel-Lafond running. Nanaimo-Alberni is the wrong riding for her though. On the other hand ... Saanich-Gulf Islands ;-)

Fri, 2011-05-13 02:47

#49

Lord Palmerston

How about Michael Geist in Ottawa-Vanier?

Fri, 2011-05-13 02:53

#50

ottawaobserver

It's an interesting thought, but the riding is usually considered the seat of (working class) francophone Ottawa, so it would be unusual to have a non-francophone name running there. On the other hand, there are a lot of immigrants in that riding as well now, along obviously with the University of Ottawa area. You could go a lot of different ways with the candidate selection.

Fri, 2011-05-13 02:59

#51

bekayne

ottawaobserver wrote:

Oh, and I love the idea of Mary-Ellen Turpel-Lafond running. Nanaimo-Alberni is the wrong riding for her though. On the other hand ... Saanich-Gulf Islands ;-)

Well, if the NDP wants to be government, it's going to have to win ridings like Nanaimo-Alberni just to be even close

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